Spider-Man: Bluebird is Peter Parker's Most Unforgivable Mistake

Over the years, Spider-Man has lost many of the most important people in his life in tragic ways. From Uncle Ben to Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker is wracked with guilt over friends and family members whom he's been unable to save over the years.

One especially tragic loss from Peter's past often goes overlooked: his forgotten classmate, Sally Avril.

Sally was initially introduced way back in Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's legendary Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of Spider-Man. Peter's classmate appears very briefly, turning him down when the future superhero asks her out. Years later, Sally was re-introduced in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1, by Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe.

This series featured Sally as one of Peter's forgotten classmates and gave readers a look back at the wall-crawler's high school years. Sally was part of the popular crowd at Midtown High, hanging around with Liz Allan, Flash Thompson and Jason Ionello, among others. Although she grew up with Peter since early childhood, Sally showed great disdain for the nerdy wallflower. Sally's defining characteristic was her craving for excitement and fame, constantly seeking adventure. For this reason (and the $1000 prize-money) Sally teamed with Jason to discover Spider-Man's true identity.

Sally and Jason constantly trailed Spider-Man despite the web-head's best efforts to deter the teenagers. Sally's snooping occasionally came in handy, such as the time she snapped Spider-Man out of a hypnotized trance with her camera. Despite her best efforts to become Spider-Man's unofficial photographer, Sally was beaten to the role by Peter himself.

Instead, Sally decided to become her own hero. Receiving equipment from Jason's father and donning her own costume, Sally became the vigilante known as Bluebird. As Bluebird, Sally possessed a retracting rope line, insulated boots, ether eggs and paint pellets.

Sally's natural prowess as a gymnast also helped her as a would-be vigilante. Chasing after Spider-Man, Sally wanted to be the wall-crawler's partner. In a display of her efforts, Bluebird aided Spider-Man against Electro and The Eel, later attempting to help him against The Scarlet Beetle as well.

Of course, despite her enthusiasm, Bluebird was still an amateur and constantly needed Spider-Man to save her. With no powers, Bluebird put herself in serious jeopardy. Realizing Bluebird's dependence upon him, Spider-Man decided to teach the young vigilante a lesson. When The Black Knight's henchmen attacked, the web-head let Sally take a beating in order to eliminate her feelings of invulnerability. After letting Sally endure a nasty pummeling, Peter told her to quit being Bluebird, to which she eventually agreed.

Even though Sally retired as a vigilante, she still sought thrills and continued to take photos of Spider-Man in action. This excitement-seeking attitude led to Sally's demise. One night, Spider-Man was in the middle of a battle with The Black Knight. Eager to photograph the fight, Sally had Jason drive her to the scene.

Sally's enthusiasm proved deadly when she encouraged Jason to dive recklessly Jason ran a red light straight into oncoming traffic, resulting in a massive car wreck. Although Jason survived, Sally was killed in the accident. Sally's death nearly destroyed Peter, riddling him with anger and guilt which he took out on The Black Knight.

Speaking with The Human Torch, Peter wondered if Sally would still be alive if she continued as Bluebird. Sally's death was only the second time in Spider-Man's history that he felt true loss. Just like with Uncle Ben, Peter was haunted by the actions he could have taken to prevent this tragedy. Perhaps with the proper training and guidance, Sally could have been reeled in from her dangerous, thrill-seeking actions.

Sally Avril is truly one of Spider-Man's biggest failures. Peter's efforts to save his friend ironically led to her death, forever scarring the web-slinger.

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